We've been going to Wing Chicx for about a year now, but I always seem to forget to bring my camera, until now... so now I'm sharing the awesomeness with all of you :) It's a great little spot just off of Ellerslie Rd. The staff are super-friendly and the owner will sometimes come around to chat, explain menu items or how to eat the dish. Wing Chicx is my favourite Korean restaurant in the city - you should go!

Wing Chicx is an awesome place to go with a group of people so that you can order a bunch of dishes and share. We got out on a rare date and went with another couple.

Make sure you try the fried chicken, it's amazing. Nice & juicy with a thin, crispy coating (but not greasy at all). You can have the chicken coated with sauce or sauce on the side. Don't miss it, it's a bit spicy and sweet and totally makes the dish.

Another of our favourites is the seafood pizza. It sounds like an odd dish, but it has an assortment of seafood (shrimp, octopus, etc.) and vegetables in a delicate batter. Yummm.

The stir-fried sweet potato noodles are also delicious. Glass noodles with fried beef & vegetables; the mushrooms are extra-tasty.

Wing Chicx is a great place to go - even if you're new to Korean food you'll love it (my parents did!)

Last week Trev and I were lucky enough to attend Rostizado's grand opening party. We had a great time sampling their delicious food, enjoying a few beverages and checking out the new space.

Rostizado is the newest venture from the Tres Carnales Group. It's located in the Mercer Building on 104 St. The restaurant is beautiful with high ceilings, exposed brick, wood, glass, tile...it all comes together beautifully in a style that could be best described as mid-century modern meets Mexico (a refreshing look when most new restaurants are going with a rustic-industrial-vintage kind of vibe). The restaurant has 70 seats and is divided into several areas: a bar/lounge, la sala ('living room' in Español), the dining room and a private dining area - perfect for larger groups.

Check out the retro TVs and watch some old-school Mexican shows or browse through the Spanish cookbooks on the shelves in La Sala.

I loved the open views to the bar and kitchen. It's hard not to stare at those beautiful chickens turning around and around to goldeny goodness in the rotisserie ovens.

And the food... oh man... I literally loved every single bite of food I shovelled into my mouth that night. So AHHH-MAZ-ING! There were a few favourites though: the pork belly gordita & the shredded chicken topped with crispy chicken skin served on a masa cake. Oh, and churros... yes, definitely churros.

Gorditas with Pancita - this slow braised pork belly was so tender and flavourful and the house-made corn flour masa bread was delicious...I was so full, but I just kept eating them!

Some of the dishes we sampled were slightly modified from their usual form, so rather than give a big description of each I'll just show lots of pics for you to drool over - go check out the menu and start planning what you'll order when you go!

Delicious corn soup topped with a sprinkling of cheese, fried onion, and crunchy little bits - and chile peppers for some added burn

The ones on the left were masa topped with shredded chicken and glorious, crispy chicken skin. The ones on the right had sliced slow-roasted pork (same as the next pic)

Thinly sliced roasted pork, chimichurri, avocado and pickled onions on a tostada. The pork was so tender and flavourful and the pickled onions really made the dish come alive. I think this would be similar to the Rosti-Puerco Cemita on the menu.

Wild mushrooms, poblano chiles, onions and cheese all melted together - a vegetarian dish that even the hungriest carnivore would enjoy.

Mmmmm, postres (desserts). For years I've been wishing that Tres Carnales Taqueria would offer desserts (specifically churros), so I actually did a little happy dance when I spotted them on the menu at Rostizado. Just try to resist a perfectly cooked churro dipped in salted caramel sauce. If that's not your thing (because you're crazy) then perhaps the flan with browned butter caramel sauce will call to you. Either way, you can't go wrong.

We spent some time chatting with Dani & Chris and their passion for the restaurant and the food was obvious and infectious. Chris told us about some of the restaurants and chefs that had inspired them. Dani talked about how they developed their recipes. He told me all about perfect churros - they need to be crisp on the outside and really soft on the inside - almost undercooked, but not quite. We agreed that over-fried hard churros are no good, but doughy ones aren't very good either - it has to be perfect. He also told me that they had a customer in who was very familiar with what are considered to be the *best* churros in Mexico, and this gentleman thought theirs was as good OR BETTER! If that doesn't sell you on heading down to Rostizado, I don't know what will!

I'm really looking forward to going back to Rostizado to try out more of their dishes. It would be a great place to go on a date or a little family dinner. When you head there, it's important to remember that they don't take reservations - first come, first seated - but they will take your mobile number and text you when a table comes available. This way you that you can take advantage of enjoying the other awesome businesses and bars on 104 St. while you wait; pretty neat.

After we left Taste of Edmonton, totally stuffed with desserts and dinner from Bar Bricco, we headed back towards our car. As we were walking past the Westin Hotel we spotted Woodwork across the street. Another place we had both heard good things about, so we decided to stop in for a cocktail. Why not, right? Hannah was in good hands and we didn't have to be home by a particular time.

We sat at the bar and I was amazed by the enormous shelves full of bottles of liquors I had never seen or heard of. I loved the old medicine bottles being used for spirits and the huge collection of books - I love cookbooks. Woodwork is yet another restaurant with a rustic-antique-y vibe, but I'm not complaining, I like that aesthetic.

Sitting at the bar was also great because we had front row seats to watch the bartender work. So many fantastic looking cocktails! I had the Violet Fizz: Beefeater Gin (mmm, gin), Bitter Truth Violet Liqueur, Hibiscus Cordial, lemon, egg white & seltzer. It had the most gorgeous purple froth on the top and I loved the floral flavour with a bit of tartness from the hibiscus. It seriously tasted like candy - I think I probably told Trevor that at least 5 times.

Our cocktail at Woodwork was the perfect end to a wonderful (and epic) date night. After getting just a little taste of Woodwork I'm looking forward to going back. The variety of dishes cooked in their wood-fired oven sound amazing.

After leaving Bar Bricco we set off looking for dessert. I remembered that Taste of Edmonton was on, so we decided to give it a try. It was the 30th Anniversary of the the festival, and I had been invited to several media events leading up to it, but unfortunately I hadn't been able to make it to any of them.

The festival's organizers have been making a big effort to change-up and improve Taste of Edmonton, and I think their efforts paid off. Trevor and I haven't been for quite a few years because we found that the festival lacked original restaurants, the dishes served were the same year after year and the prices were becoming way too steep.

Eva Sweet waffle - I love them so much, usually plain, but I guess I can stand some whipped cream and chocolate sauce

I'm really happy we went this year and gave it another try, because we had fun, and a lot of our past complaints had been remedied. There were far fewer large chain restaurants and it was much more affordable. I'm not sure what the appetizer or main dish costs were like, but all of the desserts were either 2 or 3 tickets. (We bought 20 tickets for $25)

The surprise dish of the evening was Chocolate Mousse with Pop Rocks from The Common. The mousse was really good and the pop rocks were super fun and made me feel like a kid :) (plus, it was only 2 tickets)

Trev and I haven't been out on many dates (especially just the two of us) since Hannah was born - not for lack of babysitters - I don't know, we just haven't. Anyhow, Trev's parents were staying with us the night before Hannah's birthday party and offered to watch her so we could go out. Yay! I really wanted to try Bar Bricco, so we headed there. We weren't planning on going anywhere else, but once we were out (and downtown) we hit up Taste of Edmonton and Woodwork as well. So rather than squeezing three into one (like we did) I'm splitting them up into separate posts. Also, I hadn't planned on blogging about our date, so I didn't bring my camera, so these are all cell phone pics. Here's part I...

Bar Bricco is Daniel Costa's second restaurant and has received high praises (not that I would expect anything less - Corso 32 is amazing). As soon as we walked in the door I felt as if I had been transported to Europe and it was love at first sight. I loved the simple, concise decor. The curved tiled ceiling, the long wood bar and, of course, the gorgeous meat slicer standing pristinely behind the bar. The focus of this restaurant is on spuntini (small plates), salumi and formaggi, there is an excellent wine list and select apertifs & Italian cocktails. The entire menu looked fantastic, but we managed to pick a few dishes to share.

First we had the 'Day Of' Ricotta. I'm in love with the ricotta at Corso 32, so we had to order this one. The dish at Bricco features a compressed ricotta, so the texture is different than the whipped one at Corso. Also, the ricotta at Corso has more goat milk, so the flavours are different. The ricotta at Bar Bricco did not disappoint. So creamy, and drizzled with delicious olive oil.

We shared the Egg Yolk Raviolo, but I could have easily eaten it (okay, four of them) all by myself. Sooooo good. Perfect thin sheets of pasta enclosing a pillow of ricotta topped by a golden yellow yolk that oozed out to make the perfect sauce, all topped with fried sage, browned butter and cheese...gaaah, so good.

We also shared the Salumi Tasting Plate, which had several varieties of prosciutto, pancetta and salami and came with house Grissini and bread. It was a very generous serving of meat for $24 - more than we were able to eat. It was a lot of fun to work our way around the plate, sampling and comparing. Prosciutto Di Parma was my favourite.

Our dinner at Bar Bricco was absolutely perfect and I was completely content, but we decided to find dessert somewhere else.

If you haven't been to Bar Bricco yet, you absolutely should. The food and atmosphere are wonderful. I can't wait for another date night so we can go back!

I love a good Negroni...on this evening I loved several of them, ha ha.

Messy Little Cook

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Hi, I'm Courtenay. I truly am the 'Messy Little Cook' - there's sure to be a mountain of dirty dishes and flour all over the place whenever I'm playing in the kitchen. I also love writing about restaurants, other foodie stuff and travel (when I get the chance).

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Two little ballerinas 💕 #mayowskifamily

Walking my big girl to the school bus ☀️#beautifulfallmorning #mayowskifamily

Camping in Banff for the long weekend 💕 We played, paddleboarded, hiked to the tea house, ate ice cream, roasted marshmallows and had a great time together as a family. #mayowskifamilycamping #campingwithkids #banffnationalpark #getoutside #mayowskifamily
In that last video of Hannah, the first time (off camera) she told me she loved s'mores more than me 🥺 she's working on being funny - and it actually is pretty funny

Huge THANKS to @bagelbar.yeg and @derosebrosmeats for the bagels, cream cheese, sandwiches and tots!! I won their giveaway earlier this summer and picked it up today to share with my team at work 🤤🤤🤤 everything was thoroughly enjoyed 👍

Happy Grade 1 Hannah! #firstdayofschool #yegkids #mayowskifamily

The last camping adventure of the year has begun. Tonight we're hanging out under the romantic lights of...the Bass Pro shop parking lot and listening to the soothing sounds of QE2 traffic 🙃 #parkinglotcamping #mayowskifamily

Today is our 10th anniversary ♥️ So I'm sharing 10 of my memories from our wedding day. A walk down memory lane, August 21, 2009
1) So unbelievably happy to married to this guy 😍
2) Getting ready with our moms, my sister and future sister-in-law. It felt like the greatest game of dress-up ever. I loved my wedding dress and veil
3) Walking down the aisle with my parents. I wish I could go back in time to slow this moment down. I could feel their love, support and pride
4) Seeing Trevor waiting for me at the end of the aisle. My heart was filled with butterflies, but I couldn't wait to be there with him
5) Crying while saying my vows. I knew I would cry - I'm surprised I actually got through it
6) You may kiss the bride! I made Trev practice "the kiss" before the wedding 😘
7) So greatful for our family and friends who celebrated with us
8) We slipped into the Winspear auditorium for a few photos before the reception. It felt glamorous and special to stand on the stage under the lights. While Kelsy was taking our photos the man tuning the organ was also snapping our pic
9) I surprised Trevor with an extra wedding cake (chocolate mint flavor) to apologize for my bridezilla moment when I told him that was not an acceptable wedding cake flavor 😂 everyone loved the chocolate mint cake
10) Hanging out in downtown Edmonton taking pictures with my favorite people. Everyone else was good at the sexy/serious face...me, not so much, haha. I just couldn't hide my huge smile.
Happy anniversary Trevor, I love you forever ♥️ 📸@kelsynielson @edmontonfamilyphotographer
#tenthanniversary #weddingmemories #yegweddings #husbandandwife #10yearslater #mayowskifamily

Trev made an excellent dinner of mussels in wine with homemade mayo and oven fries. The kids devoured everything. My feeding-therapist heart was glowing with pride as the kids gobbled down the mussels and asked for more (even though this kind of thing doesn't happen all the time) #adventurouseaters #dadmadedinner #foodiekids

We're really good at family pictures 🤦#mayowskifamily

Checking out the playground Trev used to play on when he was a kid, feeding Rose the Squirrel (as named by the kids) and one last popsicle before the long drive home #mayowskifamily

More beach and s'mores please! #campingincanada #mayowskifamily

Nate was so excited to take me for a ride on the board, he was shouting take my picture, it's my first paddle!
Once the kiddos were asleep Trev and I got to enjoy a sunset walk along the lake
#mayowskifamily

Family camping trip to Kimball Lake. The mornings were cool, but the afternoons were warm enough to enjoy the beautiful beach. My nature kids loved it #mayowskifamily